Parental Guidance
by AndriusHenders
Summary: Bringing people back from the dead is impossible. Shades of their former selves can be done, but they cannot truly live in their bodies again. Their bodies. Harry Potter has people living inside of his head. He has always been a little crazy.


**Parental Guidance**

Harry James Potter had hated his life for as long as he could remember. For as long as he could remember, he had been living with his aunt and uncle. They kept saying that they would rather he had died in the car crash along with his parents.

His cousin, not one to be left out, decided that beating him would be almost as good as him being dead. Harry was inclined to disagree. Being dead was far better.

At ten years old, Harry James Potter was absolutely convinced that he would rather be dead than alive.

That is, until yesterday.

**Yesterday**

"_You little freak! You should have died in that car crash! If you had, my eggs wouldn't have been burned! Go back to your cupboard!"_

_Harry quickly retreated to his cupboard. In the dark, enclosed space, Harry sat. How long he spent there, he found was hard to say. _

_The entire time spent there, Harry had been wishing that his parents hadn't died. That his aunt, uncle and cousin had died instead. _

_That day was the day Harry learned he could make things happen. That day marked the start of the rest of his life._

_The loud crash, Harry would savour for the rest of his life. It marked his liberation. _

_Albus Dumbledore would later visit the residence, upon finding that his instruments showed strange readings. He would find three corpses, each one holding a lily in their right hand._

_The reason he had visited the residence, though, had little to do with the corpses. No, he wanted to know what had happened to the fourth person to reside at number four. Of him, Albus Dumbledore found no trace. _

_He would continue to think on this for a long time, trying to find the significance of the lilies. He was sure that Lily Evans could not be involved, since she was dead._

After Harry had seen his family dead, he had decided he wanted to be somewhere else. He'd taken some money from his uncle and willed himself to be somewhere else. When he opened his eyes again, he had appeared to be in a place he'd only seen in his dreams. It was where he always saw that redheaded woman he had assumed was his mother take a green light to the chest, and then die. He assumed his father had suffered a similar fate.

Harry fell to the ground as his memories of that night came crashing into his mind. He remembered the evil laughter. The hopelessness of seeing his mother falling to the ground in front of him. The pain in her eyes before she did, the determination to protect her son, despite losing her husband. She had been willing to sacrifice herself, only to save him.

He also remembered three words. Three words that express a sentiment most children now a lot of growing up. Harry James Potter was not most children. The words "I love you" drifted into his mind, once in a woman's voice, once in a man's voice.

Harry, after managing to calm himself, decided that it was time to sleep.

If anyone were watching, they would see a strange light surrounding him for the entirety of the night. As it stands, though, no one was any wiser.

"Hello, Harry." One voice softly said, as a sob echoed through the room. He saw the redheaded woman from his dreams standing there, in the arms of a man with hair remarkably similar to his own. A tear was rolling down the woman's cheek.

Hesitantly, Harry spoke. "M- Mum? Dad?"

The two adults nodded. While their lips were being forced into smiles, Harry could clearly see the sorrow on the rest of their features. Their eyes showed more pain than he could have imagined someone feeling. It was at that sight that Harry realised something very important.

He wasn't a worthless freak. His mum and dad regretted having died, they wished they could have been there. They were suffering as much as he was, watching him grow up the way he did. Harry's eyes, too, started to water and soon, a tear was rolling down his cheek as well.

The man was the first to break the silence. "Harry, there are things you need to know. Things that are very important. It would take too long to tell you everything." The man took a pause, eyes downcast. "We can share our memories of our lives with you, Harry, but it would be painful. If it were done improperly, it would kill you."

The woman was quick to interrupt. "Don't worry, though, sweetie. We found a way to make it a lot less painful, but there's a bit of work involved. It will still take time. It will definitely remove a lot of pain, though, and there won't be any chance of you dying."

The way she spoke those words, Harry felt as if the simple thought of him dying broke her heart into a million pieces. Harry remembered the look on her face as he remembered that night that changed his life. He remembered those haunted eyes, begging for her to be killed instead of her son. That look convinced Harry that her heart truly would break into a million pieces if he were to die.

Harry nodded solemnly. "How? And why now?"

Mum smiled at him. "Well, Harry, somehow, yesterday, you made us come back alive. Well, not really alive, of course. You can't make people come back from the dead. But, our consciousness came back. We could see through your eyes, feel what you felt. Before, we were simply content. We could not see anything of the world, like you can. I assume that is what the afterlife is like. I felt a draw to something I knew was James, but I never saw him. I didn't see, really, I just felt. If I was near James, I felt content. If I wasn't, I felt longing to be near him. It's hard to explain."

James nodded at this explanation, "I really couldn't tell you better than your mum, Harry. It really is different. But, what we want to do is sort through your memories and we'll sort them by category. Make everything in your head more organised. We will then sort through our own memories and add them to yours. You'll be asleep for the entire time though and we think it'll take at least three days."

"Th- Three days?!" Harry asked, eyes wide open.

Lily replied with a smile, "Yes, Harry. Three days. Your body will be asleep. You can stay with us, like you are now though, if you like."

Harry's expression quickly changed. The shock was replaced by plain happiness as he thought about spending time with his parents.

The time spent with his parents Harry felt he'd cherish forever. The only downside was that it only lasted three days. When they were done sorting memories, Harry turned to his parents with tears in his eyes.

His mum's look of concern was one he would remember forever, as she gently asked, "Harry, honey, what's wrong?"

The look in his eyes had horrified Lily. She had never seen such pain on a child's face. No one should ever have to feel that way!

"D- Do you have to go?"

Comprehension dawned on Lily. They'd never told him that they'd stay in his head. That they'd always be with him, wherever he went. The boy was afraid of losing his parents again.

"No, Harry, we don't. And we won't. For the rest of your life, we'll be with you, in your mind. We'll protect you, okay?"

Harry nodded, tears still threatening to roll from his eyes. Lily and James quickly closed the distance between them and pulled him into a hug. "Now, Harry, it's time for you to wake up. You'll probably feel a bit weak for the next two days, but we'll be with you, okay? Whenever you go to sleep, we'll be in your dreams."

"Remember what we talked about, son? Find out why you were put with Lily's sister instead of Sirius, okay?"

Harry nodded. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the bed he fell asleep in in Godric's Hollow. He felt thirsty and headed out the door. He found the closest store and went inside. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water, paid for it with his uncle's money and was out the door again.

He, then, held out his right hand and waited for the knight bus to appear. When it appeared, he quickly got on. "The leaky cauldron. I don't have any wizarding money on me, though, do you accept muggle money?"

"No' usually, bu' goblins exchange it, so I don' see why no'"

Harry nodded and handed over five pounds, "This should be enough, right?"

"Yeah, shoul' be plen'y"

Harry sat down on one of the beds, and was rolled all around the bus as it travelled through the streets. Minutes later, the man he'd paid to get on earlier called out; "Leaky cauldron!"

As Harry left the bus, he mumbled a quick thank you and headed inside.

"Harry?" An ancient looking man was looking at him. The man had dark bags under his eyes, his eyes were bloodshot. He looked as if he hadn't slept properly in days.

"Yes. Do I know you?" Harry replied. From his parents' memories, he knew that this man was Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Of course, he didn't need to know that Harry knew. The less people know something, the less chance there is of the secret being revealed.

"No, I wouldn't think so. I knew your parents, though. I was the one who placed you with your relatives, I was keeping an eye on you there, you see. I was rather shocked when I couldn't find you and your relatives had died... Do you remember what happened?"

"I don't, sir. I remember being put in my cupboard and then I heard a crash at the door. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the street. I walked on to the sidewalk, and a bus appeared out of nowhere. I said I was lost and it took me here."

"Ah, I see. Well, Harry, come with me. We need to find you a new place to stay."

"Uhm, sir... You knew my parents, right?" Albus nodded, "Do you have any letters they wrote, or something like that? I don't really know anything about them, you see..."

Albus looked thoughtful for a moment, before sadly shaking his head. "No, Harry, I don't have any letters they wrote... I do have a cloak that belonged to your father, but no letters. I'm sorry."

"Did they write a will? Maybe I could have a copy of that?"

"Your parents did write a will, yes. It has been sealed, though. It hasn't been executed, so you can't get a copy." Wait. What? A lot of expletives he'd never heard before started drifting through his mind.

"Uhm, why was it sealed? Who sealed it?"

"I sealed it. I thought it better if we kept it until you were old enough..."

"I'm old enough now. Can we unseal it?"

"I had hoped to wait a few more years, Harry. I believe that-"

Harry shook his head, "I want to know, sir. I want something to remember them by..." Harry had tears welling up in his eyes, as Albus nodded sadly.

"I'll take you to unseal the will, then. I'll make sure no one recognises you, though, to avoid unneeded attention. Is that okay?"

At Harry's nod, Dumbledore waved his wand in a pattern Harry recognized as a glamour charm. Harry's looks changed to those of a brown-haired boy with blue eyes. His hair still covered his forehead. Harry touched his forehead and found his scar still present.

_**The last will and testament of James Potter and Lily Potter**_

_I, James Potter, an adult residing at the Godric's Hollow cottage of the Potter estate, being of sound mind, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. I revoke all wills and codicils previously made by me._

_I, Lily Potter, an adult residing at the Godric's Hollow cottage of the Potter estate, being of sound mind, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. I revoke all wills and codicils previously made by me._

_First of all, we would like to note that, contrary to popular belief, Sirius Black was NOT our secret keeper. If the secret keeper betrayed us, all blame should fall to Peter Pettigrew. Sirius Black was switched away from the role, since we believed him to be the obvious choice. We believed that the common belief being wrong would provide an extra layer of security._

_We would like to make these donations:_

_To Remus Lupin, 10 000 galleons._

_To Sirius Black, 10 000 galleons._

_If Peter Pettigrew did not betray us, to Peter Pettigrew, 10 000 galleons._

_To Petunia Dursley, 1000 galleons. (Converted to British pounds)_

_Any and all remaining wealth, vaults and estate we leave to our son, Harry James Potter._

_He may not access these until he attains the age of majority. We have set up a trust vault that contains plenty of funds for him to attend Hogwarts and live comfortably. At the execution of this Last Will and Testament, the key to this trust vault should be given to Harry James Potter or his guardian._

_The guardianship of our son, Harry James Potter, should under **NO** circumstances be allowed to go to Petunia and Vernon Dursley._

_Our initial choice for guardian would be Harry's godfather, Sirius Black._

_A second option is his godmother, Alice Longbottom._

_If neither of these are available, another suitable magical family may be found._

_We would like to repeat that under no circumstance must he be allowed to live with Lily's sister and his husband. _

_Attached to this document is the trust vault key for Harry James Potter._

_This concludes our Last Will and Testament. _

_We would like to thank our friends and family for the joy they brought us in life and hope that despite our absence, they may continue to find joy in their lives._

_Thank you._

Harry spent time reading over the document, despite knowing exactly what it said. He kept an eye on Dumbledore's reaction.

Dumbledore had a panicked look on his face. He barely read the document before he excused himself, telling Harry to stay put.

A visit to the DMLE was in order.

"Hello, Amelia."

"Hello, Albus. What brings you here today?"

"Young Harry Potter, I'm afraid. You see, I was leading him through Diagon Alley and he mentioned that he had no letters from his parents and would like one. I had none in my possession. He asked if he could have a copy of their will, so that he at least had something to remember them by."

"A will to remember his parents? That's terrible! You can't be serious!"

"That's not the worst of it... The will has some rather important information. It was never executed, you see. If it had, things would have gone very differently in the aftermath of the attack on Godric's Hollow."

"What could there possibly be that can have such an influence?"

"Sirius Black is innocent. Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper."

A shocked expression came over Amelia's face, as her mouth moved without sound. Albus smiled sadly.

"Yes, that was about my reaction too. I trust we can have this terrible mistake fixed by tomorrow? Peter Pettigrew may not be caught, but an innocent man can be released. Question him under veritaserum if you must. I will call a Wizengamot trial together for tomorrow. Does 10 sound good?"

"That should be fine, Albus. The sooner the better, I'd say. You've given me a lot of paperwork to do, though."

Albus smiled, though the smile never reached his eyes. "Yes, I do apologise. I have other matters to attend to for now, though. Until tomorrow, Amelia."

Amelia waved him off, "Yeah, bye Albus."

"This, Harry, is Hogwarts. We will be going to your godfather's trial tomorrow, but today, you must stay here. There will be a bed in a separate room to my office, you will also be given a meal there. I must ask you not to leave my office, though. It is imperative that no one knows you are in the castle, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir. Uhm, what is that hat? And why is it moving?"

Harry had pointed at the sorted hat, which was looking at him as he walked through the office.

"I'm the Sorting Hat, young one. Would you like to try me on?"

"That won't be necessary," Albus said, before Harry could recover from the hat talking, "He will not be a first year until next year."

Neither James nor Lily had any memory of the Hat talking outside of the sorting ceremonies. "Interesting." was the only thought that drifted into his head.

The hat turned to Albus, "Oh, but the boy looks like he could use someone to talk to. You know as well as I do that there is none better than I."

"Yes, well, perhaps you are right, old friend. I shall leave the decision to Harry, then."

Harry simply walked over to the hat and put it on his head, before retiring to the room Albus had prepared for him.

"_Fascinating. Your mind is a wondrous thing, young Harry. It is as if there are multiple people residing in your head!" _

"_Three, I do believe."_

"_What? You can't have people living in your head, Harry! Imaginary friends do not truly live in your head, you know that, right?"_

"_It's not imaginary friends! It's my parents! Look, I'll ask them to talk to you!"_

The hat felt thoughts being sent in his direction, coming not from the boy, but from the boy. The thoughts weren't structured the same as the boy's were, but the methods were similar. The boy seemed to be a mixture of the two.

Both thoughts simply said, "_Hello, Hat. Long time no see!_"

The hat recognised them, of course. A charmed hat to Sort the students never forgot who he sorted, or where he sorted them. Their secrets the Hat could not reveal, but the Hat could help them if they needed someone to talk to that they could trust.

This function of the hat hadn't been used in years, but it existed nonetheless.

The hat hadn't encountered anything like this before. As it attempted to adjust its senses to account for the other people present in the boy's head, it sensed a fourth.

The fourth present, while weaker, was definitely detectable. The fourth felt like an incomplete presence. It was there, but did not seem to be capable of thought. It was if a soul had been torn to pieces and one part had been put into the boy's head.

Regardless of its incompleteness, the Hat recognized the fourth part. It was, after all, a student it had sorted.

Slytherin. Destined to do great things. He lacked compassion, perhaps, but he would do great things.

As the years passed, the Hat heard things about this student. While the things he did were terrible, their greatness could not be argued. They were beyond the scope of potential of an ordinary wizard.

As his senses were adjusted to address the three main presences, he decided to share the secrets of the boy's mind with the boy. He deserved to know about his own head, after all.

"_There is a fourth presence. It is weaker. It belonged to a student I sorted a long time ago. One Tom Marvolo Riddle, more recently known as Lord Voldemort. It is weaker though, as if his soul has been torn to shreds and one part attached itself to this boy's mind._"

A sense of shock overwhelmed the boy's thoughts. Emotions were the easiest things to sense, coherent thought being drowned out by emotion is not unheard of.

As the shock and horror wore off, the main thought the hat perceived was, "_How do we fix it?_"

"_As far as I'm aware, the only reason the piece would abandon its host if it thought the host was dying. We would need to induce a state of near-death. I can talk to Albus about it, if you like. I have known of this process being used before, it was successful in removing the soul from the boy in question._

_It was a rather painful process, but I am one hundred percent convinced that this can be done without any chance of Harry dying. He will experience pain, but not death._

_What I cannot guarantee, however, is that you two will remain within his head. It is possible your souls, too, will leave the body._"

"_That is acceptable, though we would prefer if no one was informed of our presence in the first place. Our son's safety is paramount, the piece of soul must be removed from his head."_

"_What? No! My parents can't leave! They have to stay!"_

"_We will do our best, Harry, but we cannot leave a piece of the soul of the man that killed us attached to your head. It's not up for debate."_

The hat stopped the argument, "_I do believe that your parents have the correct course of action here, Harry. I think that perhaps you can will them to not leave, despite your body's condition. It is a small chance that they will not be able to stay."_

A general murmur of acceptance later, Albus Dumbledore was called back to his office.

The hat was put on his head, and they sat still for five minutes. Dumbledore's expression changed from understanding and nodding, to shock and shaking his head, to a defeated look as he sank back in his chair. He eventually looked up, "Harry? Do you think you can do this?"

Harry nodded solemnly. His eyes were set with determination. A look Dumbledore recalled all too well. His mother had, after all, regularly had that same look of determination.

The headmaster's office was eerily quiet as he waved his wand. All instruments usually whizzing and whirring about were silenced and moved. The furniture had been put aside.

The only sounds that could be heard was the breathing of a young boy and the breathing of an old man.

Albus had spent the last thirty minutes drawing up the required runes. A loose piece of Voldemort's soul was not a desired side effect. The runes would contain and trap or, if necessary, destroy it.

Harry was seated in the middle of the circle, eyes closed. The boy had been terrifyingly calm about this whole thing. He appeared to be more in control than Albus himself was!

"I am ready to begin, Harry. If you're ready, we start. You will be knocked out, and then your body will be cooled. When your body temperature drops, the parasite will think its host has died and leave the body to continue its survival."

Harry nodded his acceptance and changed position to lay flat on the floor. A wave of a wand later and the boy was no longer conscious.

"Hello, mum, dad."

"Hello, Harry." they replied with smiles.

"I hope you two don't disappear with him... I want to grow up with my parents with me!"

"Us too, Harry, us too." the three of them stayed wrapped in a hug for a long time before the silence was broken again. Harry had started shivering, "I'm cold. That means he's started, right?"

Lily and James smiled, "Yes, Harry. It means-"

The sound of the scream echoing through Harry's mind interrupted the comforting. Harry felt his parents being tugged away, but held on tightly.

A shadow in his mind was being dragged out, it seemed to be screaming in protest and pain.

Lily and James were holding on to their son for dear life. They felt the pull, that they had to leave the mind. But their son was holding them tightly, they would not leave him. Not again. Him losing his parents once had been enough. More than enough.

It took minutes before the scream stopped echoing through Harry's head.

Over time, Harry had gotten a terrible headache. It felt as if his skull was splitting open, and he was clutching his head desperately. Albus looked on in pity as he heated the boy's body temperature back up to normal.

Tom's soul had been burned the moment it left the body. The runes had not been capable of properly containing it, so it was destroyed.

"Harry, dear? Are you okay?" He looked up to find the worried faces of the familiar redheaded woman and black haired man gazing at him, concern plastered on their features for everyone to see.

"I think so... Is it over?" His head had been hurting less, and he'd been less cold for the past minute. He wasn't comfortable, yet, but it was improving.

His parents nodded with small smiles, "We're not getting pulled away any more. You're getting warmer again. I think you did wonderfully, Harry. We're proud of you."

James looked at his wife fondly as she comforted Harry. She'd always known how to make him feel better. Even when he was small, whenever she held him, young Harry would cheer right up!

Minutes passed, with the three still holding each other in an embrace. Harry broke the silence, "I think I'm waking up, now." and he disappeared. The two people left gazed fondly at one another, before a gentle kiss was exchanged. Then a number of less gentle kisses followed.

The kisses were abruptly ended, though, by a loud '_eeeeewwww_' echoing through the chamber they were in.

"Hello, everyone. I apologise that everyone was called on such short notice, but I uncovered crucial evidence in an old case which had not been given a trial due to overwhelming circumstantial evidence. Today, we will be questioning Sirius Black under veritaserum for his involvement in the deaths of Lily and James Potter, as well as the subsequent murder of muggles and Peter Pettigrew.

This evidence showed itself in the form of the Last Will and Testament of James and Lily. I was escorting young Harry Potter yesterday, when he asked me for any letter written by his parents. I had none, and told him such. He asked if perhaps they had a will and if he could see that, so that at least, he could have one thing his parents had written.

The will had been sealed, because the main beneficiary, Harry Potter, was not old enough to attend its reading. When he asked for the will, I had it unsealed and executed.

However, in the Will, there was the notification that Sirius Black had not been their Secret Keeper for the Fidelius charm. This new evidence I believed to be crucial, and had Sirius retrieved from Azkaban for a trial as soon as possible.

I suggest questioning under veritaserum, as I believe that will lead to the quickest resolving of this case."

A general murmur of agreement went through the people present as Albus gave his suggestion. The trial had been private, but due to personal involvement, as well as his fame, Harry had been allowed to watch, provided he kept quiet.

Sirius was quickly escorted into the courtroom, where he was looking at everyone with a haunted look in his eyes. As he was asked for his consent for questioning under veritaserum, he simply nodded and opened his mouth to allow them to administer to potion.

"State your name."

"Sirius Orion Black."

"How were you related to the Potter family?"

"I was James' best friend in school. Together with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, we called ourselves the marauders. We were fond of pulling pranks and generally having a good time at school. After school, we remained best friends and James and I were colleagues. I frequently visited their home."

"Were you responsible for the Potter's deaths, on Halloween?"

"I was not directly responsible, but I cannot say that I am without blame."

"Could you elaborate on that point? Were you the secret keeper?"

"I was not the secret keeper, but I convinced James to switch to Peter. I, at the time, believed that since everyone knew James and I were inseparable that having Peter be the Secret Keeper would be an added layer of security. We picked Peter instead of Remus because, at the time, we believed the most likely spy had been Remus."

"The night of the attack on Godric's Hollow, could you describe your actions?"

"I had agreed to meet James at his house. James was tired of hiding and wanted his friends to meet him. It was a full moon, so Remus could not be present. Peter said that he had to attend to his sick mother. I had agreed to meet James and Lily, and at the agreed upon time, I rode my motorcycle to Godric's Hollow. I had promised James that he could ride it sometime and I assumed that it would at least cheer him up.

When I arrived, the house at a chunk of its upper floor blown off. There were flames dancing in the house, but I heard crying from within. I entered the house, extinguishing fire as I went. In front of the stairs, I found the corpse of James. I had heard crying coming from upstairs, so I continued on, hoping that maybe Harry and Lily had survived.

I opened the door to Harry's room, to see Lily lying on the floor, in front of Harry's cot. Next to the cot, was a pile of smoking robes and a scorch mark on the floor. In the cot, Harry was standing up and looking at me, tears rolling down his cheeks. On his forehead was a red lightning bolt, blood slowly seeping out of it.

I took Harry and left the house, since it did not appear very stable at the time. Outside, I met Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts' groundskeeper. He told me that Dumbledore had asked him to retrieve Harry.

I, at the time, was very angry with Peter, since he had to have told Voldemort about the Secret for him to have found them. That meant that he had betrayed us and had joined Voldemort. Intent on seeking revenge, I handed Harry over and offered Hagrid use of my motorcycle.

He took Harry and rode it away, I assume he took Harry to Dumbledore.

After he left, I went to Peter's apartment. From there, I went to his favourite pub. I met him along the way. I was intent on confronting him. I had my wand out and was prepared to send a curse his way, when he turned around and saw me. He then yelled, "SIRIUS! How could you?! How could you betray James and Lily? YOU WERE OUR FRIEND!"

After that, I saw a glint of reflected light as he cut off one of his fingers. I can only assume he had a knife of sorts on his person. He then aimed his wand behind himself and cast an explosion curse at the street. This explosion killed and injured a large number of muggles.

He then transformed into his rat animagus form and escaped into the sewers, that were now open due to the gaping hole in the street."

"How did you know what his animagus form was?"

"I saw it when I was at school."

"Why were you found laughing at the scene? It seems an unusual reaction to that situation."

"Peter had always been the least remarkable of the four of us. James, Remus and I each had our own skills for our pranks at school, Peter mostly followed around. Remus was good with research. James had a way of talking his way out of things, and really tied the group together. I supplied most of the ideas for our pranks.

When he started yelling about my betrayal, I realised that what Peter was doing was a truly brilliant prank. While the consequences for me were absolutely horrible, I simply couldn't get past the fact that I had just been the victim of such an elaborate prank, by the least remarkable of the marauders. The irony of the situation got to me.

That combined with the fact that humour has always been a way for me to process events caused me to erupt into uncontrollable laughter."

Dumbledore turned to the rest of the people present. "Does anyone have any additional questions before the antidote is administered?"

When after five seconds, no one spoke up, Albus motioned for the antidote to be administered as he started speaking again.

"I motion for Sirius Black to be cleared of all charges brought before him. Those in favour?"

A clear majority raised their hands and the shackles fell off of Sirius' wrists and ankles.

"The ministry would like to formally apologise for your wrongful imprisonment, Mr. Black. Additionally, compensation will be awarded in the form of 100 000 galleons per year spent in Azkaban."

Sirius nodded his acceptance with a huge grin on his face. He was soon led out of the courtroom. When Sirius began leaving, Harry stood up and ran for the exit.

Once outside, Sirius was left alone. At least, until a messy haired bullet slammed into him. He almost fell over before he realised what was happening. "Harry! I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Harry..."

Harry had been shocked by the sadness carried in his tone of voice. It took him a moment to recover and choke out, "We need to talk."

Sirius smiled and put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Sure, kiddo. Whatever you want. I'm free, uh, let's see... the rest of my life, I do believe."

"Be serious!"

"I am Sirius!"

"Okay, I walked into that one. But really, we do need to talk."

"Yeah. I know. Ice cream?"

"Sure. I'd like to go to somewhere more private to talk, though. It's important."

"You're, what, ten? What could you possibly have to say that's important?"

The glare Sirius was on the receiving end of reminded him an awful lot of Lily and made him shut up and be quiet. A place for them to talk had quickly been found in one of the apartments the Black family owned. While not big, it was plenty big to talk. On the way there, they stopped at a muggle convenience store for ice cream and brought it along with them.

The expression on Sirius' face as he tasted his ice cream was one of pure bliss and not one that Harry would soon forget. The man had spent years living off of prison food, so ice cream was something he probably hadn't had in years.

Much like having a friend prank him.

Which is why Harry jumped up and pushed Sirius' ice cream towards his face, burying his nose in it. Sirius slowly turned to Harry, ice cream covered, "This means war, Prongslet."

A/N: Well. That happened.


End file.
